Better hearing with both ears

Galway Advertiser, Thu, Nov 01, 2018

Why do people have two ears? Basically, it is to widen the scope of your hearing so you can find out where sounds are coming from, and from what distance. In reality it is not your ears that do the listening, but your brain. And to interpret sounds correctly, the information it receives must be as accurate and as detailed as possible.

This is why, if you have a hearing loss in both ears, it is best to get two hearing instruments, because they make sounds easier to locate. The benefits of wearing two include:

• Speech will sound clearer: Research shows that two instruments make speech and conversation significantly easier to understand than only one. Just as wearing glasses on both eyes, it makes sense to wear two hearing instrument on your ears.

• Better understanding of noise: The most important benefits of wearing two instruments are: in busy situations such as a restaurant you need input from both ears in order to be able to focus the conversation and filter out uninteresting background noise.

• Your ability to locate sounds will improve. Two hearing instruments will make you feel more in touch with your surroundings. You will know which way to turn when friends or relatives are trying to get your attention. You will also have an easier time finding your ringing mobile phone if it should suddenly disappear.

• Listening will be easier and you can respond more naturally. Your ears will stay in shape due to the fact that if you have hearing loss in both ears, but only wear a hearing instrument on one, the other ear is deprived of stimulation and thus becomes lazy.

• You will enjoy better sound quality, when listening to music, etc, as it sounds balanced and natural.